Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is using the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula to its advantage. The Japanese media are playing up the nuclear and ballistic missile tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, making Japanese people more apprehensive of the threat from Pyongyang. This in turn has created a public perception that the Abe administration has no choice but to deepen its military cooperation with the United States to protect Japan against external threats. As a result, many Japanese have to come to believe that only a stronger US-Japan alliance can stop the DPRK from pursuing its nuclear programs.

The Japanese administration has been hyping the threat from the DPRK instead of trying to ease public tensions. And Abe's remarks and some media reports have made many in Japan believe that the country will bear the brunt of a conflict, if one were to break out. The fear among Japanese people therefore can be mainly attributed to the exaggerated propaganda of Abe and the media.

Amid the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Abe has delivered many sensational speeches and taken moves that could stir up more trouble. On Tuesday he reiterated the need for explicitly defining the status of Japan's Self-Defense Forces under his plan to revise the pacifist Constitution by 2020.